MRI-active inner regions of protoplanetary discs. II. Dependence on dust, disc and stellar parameters

TL;DR

This study models the inner regions of protoplanetary discs to understand how dust, stellar, and disc parameters influence MRI activity, ionization, and potential planet formation zones.

Contribution

It extends previous work by analyzing how variations in dust size, accretion rate, and stellar properties affect MRI activation and disc structure.

Findings

High accretion rates and small dust favor MRI activity and a pressure maximum.

Dust-to-gas ratio influences the location of the pressure maximum.

Low accretion rates and large dust lead to MRI-active discs without a pressure maximum.

Abstract

Close-in super-Earths are the most abundant exoplanets known. It has been hypothesized that they form in the inner regions of protoplanetary discs, out of the dust that may accumulate at the boundary between the inner region susceptible to the magneto-rotational instability (MRI) and an MRI-dead zone further out. In Paper I we presented a model for the viscous inner disc which includes heating due to both irradiation and MRI-driven accretion; thermal and non-thermal ionization; dust opacities; and dust effects on ionization. Here we examine how the inner disc structure varies with stellar, disc and dust parameters. For high accretion rates and small dust grains, we find that: (1) the main sources of ionization are thermal ionization and thermionic and ion emission; (2) the disc features a hot, high-viscosity inner region, and a local gas pressure maximum at the outer edge of this region (in line with previous studies); and (3) an increase in the dust-to-gas ratio pushes the pressure maximum outwards. Consequently, dust can accumulate in such inner discs without suppressing the MRI, with the amount of accumulation depending on the viscosity in the MRI-dead regions. Conversely, for low accretion rates and large dust grains, there appears to be an additional steady-state solution in which: (1) stellar X-rays become the main source of ionization; (2) MRI-viscosity is high throughout the disc; and (3) the pressure maximum ceases to exist. Hence, if planets form in the inner disc, larger accretion rates (and thus younger disks) are favoured.